Hi Wen,
this is super.
I like sketch1d and e. How about removing the grid elements that are not colored. They disturb the color of the border and you have to look closely to see what it is.
Best
Ron
2 Likes
As @lassoan notes, many of these new designs with the quadrant cutout have ambiguous depth, where one can see this as a cube sticking in or out. I experience a necker-cube like bistable perception. If you want to reduce this, a dark gradient along the crease will provide a cue for ambient occlusion.
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Great suggestions and comments, thank you!
I will wait to collect more responses and then generate some modifications, and share. I also intend to try softening shading on outside of sphere – I want to see the overall effect of a less-contrast-y gradient there.
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Yeah along this design line sketch1 a/b and d/e are my preferences.
- No drop shadow as there is no drop shadow on the dark background version.
- No plane lines as they can sometimes get lost and the 3D cutout already sort of conveys the different planes idea.
My biggest design element I’m not sure about is the color and shading/gradient around the edge. As you’ve already indicated, playing around with that more would be interesting to see. It is more uniform shading around the edge which I like over the current logo. Though I’m not sure what actual shade would be the “Slicer” primary color to then use for the “3D” or “3D Slicer” text color. With a flat color or just a few colors for the sphere there might be more relationship between the text color and the logomark main color.
How about removing the grid elements that are not colored.
Agreed. Would be interesting to see the black grid around only the squares that are filled with colors.
2 Likes
I like the new designs. As a minor nit-pick, the cutout in the original icon made the silhoutte non-circular. Many of these designs have a cutout but have a perfectly spherical outline. Somehow, this seems like accidental feature that makes the object look a bit less natural to my eye. One should see a bit of a rim from the back portion of the sphere, or the cutout should be a bit larger so the outline is not perfectly spherical.
Python code for creating voxelwise sphere:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import math
import numpy as np
import nibabel as nib
nvox = 256
img = np.zeros((nvox, nvox, nvox))
center = (img.shape[0]/2.,img.shape[1]/2.,img.shape[2]/2.)
grid_x, grid_y,grid_z = np.mgrid[0:img.shape[0], 0:img.shape[1], 0:img.shape[2]]
grid_x = grid_x - center[0]
grid_y = grid_y - center[1]
grid_z = grid_z - center[2]
img = np.sqrt (np.square(grid_x) + np.square(grid_y) + np.square(grid_z))
img = np.reshape(img, (nvox, nvox, nvox))
header = nib.Nifti1Header()
affine = np.array([[1,0,0,-center[0]],[0,1,0,-center[1]],[0,0,1,-center[2]],[0,0,0,1] ])
nii = nib.Nifti1Image(img, affine, header)
with np.nditer(img, op_flags=['readwrite']) as it:
for vox in it:
fx = 0;
if vox < 120:
fx = 1;
if vox < 90:
fx = 2;
vox[...] = fx;
nii = nib.Nifti1Image(img, affine, header)
nib.save(nii, 'sphere.nii')
2 Likes
Actually making the silhoutte perfectly circular has been a specific design choice. I think that making it non-circular makes it look worse as it doesn’t feel balanced.
3 Likes
I can understand that. In this case, I would bring the rear slice plane a bit closer to the viewer, as shown in the left panel of my figure. To my eye this gives a better sense of depth.
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Thanks to all for working on this. The new logo proposals look very nice.
It would make software integration easier if the exact same logo could be used over both dark and light backgrounds. In some environments we can switch the logo when theme is changed, but it may require extra work, and in some cases it may not be even feasible to switch between two logos depending on background color (e.g., when the Slicer logo is submitted to third-party sites, or when the logo is displayed as a watermark over an image that has a mix of dark and bright regions).
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Thank you all for these comments – they are very insightful and give me some great ideas to work with. I’ll try to get another round of sketches for you to look at by Monday or Tuesday morning!
2 Likes
Good afternoon everyone, I wanted to provide you with some additional designs I put together with the rest of our team.
The idea is to simplify the logo, while maintaining its core attributes: A sphere with a cut-out portion accompanied by a colored grid. You can see the logo’s progression from a 16-block multi-colored grid (A) to a 6-block staggered grid (C and D). I also think we have an opportunity to reduce the number of colors used, is there a significance to having so many colors represented in the grid? Like Chris pointed out earlier, the cut-out isn’t perfectly circular in the original icon and should be reconsidered if option A) or B) is selected.
Overall, I’m drawn to something more simplified like options C or D, my two cents!
5 Likes
Cool! These are also nice. I agree simpler but keeping some of the original elements for continuity is a good idea.
Small thing: looks like the interior lines are transparent on these (they are white on white bg and black on the black bg). Would be better I think if the interior is solid so it works on a gradient or other complex background. I like the white for the background of the quarter circle, but black for the interior lines. Have to say I’m leaning toward C or D in this bunch. But no, I like B too… Also I like that C on the white background has just a hint of shading in the sphere.
2 Likes
Very cool with those new designs, @SteveJordanKW!
I do like C/D with the 6-block staggered grid. It sort of rounds off that quadrant without using a curve so it still feels mostly circular. I do seem to prefer the mix of cool and warm colors in C instead of only the cool colors in D.
Not sure about some of the transparent areas as it almost looks like different logos if the large interior section is black versus white. Maybe use the grey from the interior of B.
Also I like that C on the white background has just a hint of shading in the sphere.
Yes, that is nice and subtle to provide some depth to the sphere. I think this is what @lassoan had specified he wanted to see.
2 Likes
Yeah, this is fun - thanks @wenples and @SteveJordanKW! Looking forward to seeing what comes next 
3 Likes
@SteveJordanKW These are great designs! I very much agree with the reduction in number of colors, and I like the staggered squares as well. I wouldn’t mind the transparent parts; I think it is an elegant solution, and we’d rarely use them with a gradient background programmatically (and in a poster you can remedy these things if needed).
Either C or D would be a great choice. The colors in C looks a bit more “inclusive”, but I guess the colors in D are a homage to Kitware, which is also nice 
2 Likes
Good morning!
I also really like C & D – C the most. Very nice work!
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I would love to also see what C on dark background looks like with the horizontal and vertical cuts on sphere white, as they are on the white background.
Also, I like the little lick of shading on C-white-version. Would be nice to see that on the C-dark-version too.
Keeping the logo stable across bg changes would be ideal.
Nice work @SteveJordanKW!
3 Likes
We should be careful not to end up with Pacman.
I am all for some amount of simplification, but in my mind this is a tune-up, not a rebranding. We should be careful not to go too far from our established brand at this point.
2 Likes
@rkikinis What are your specific thoughts of version C from above?
To me it hits the following requirements:
- Must be similar in design to current logo and still recognizable as “3D Slicer”. This includes shapes and colors used.
- Switch to flat colors
- Reduce number of design elements and colors
Since the current design has been with Slicer 4 for a decade now, I think this refresh direction would be a welcome update for Slicer 5 to signal fresh development for this new decade.
2 Likes
Hi,
you raise some good points. I agree with your first and last checkmark.
As to the second point: Personally, I prefer minimalist design. Having said that, I am not sure about switching to flat colors for the slicer logo. One of the main features of Slicer is 3D rendering. Color gradients convey depth. I liked Wendy’s idea to use a color gradient based on the one in the 3D window.
2 Likes
Hi All,
Bunch of sketches (10) for your weekend viewing fun. Playing with great ideas from @SteveJordanKW and team. I’ll share these in separate, as I have a 3-image quota per post. Cheers, guys!
1 Like